I had never felt my heart stop so many times. I mean this is the first time I been onto a "real" roller coaster o.o;
My sis says we had been on one when we were smaller kids, at a fun fair - I am guessing when we still lived in Yishun ^^ Nowadays fun-fairs in Singapore? Nope, don't see it anymore.
At around 8am, we set off towards from home towards USS and reached roughly about 10am. Lol.
Tip #1 - Bring your own lunch
Because everything there is so bloody expensive!
Right on, for the first morning ride, sis brought us to the Battlestar Galatica Cylon. We queued for about 30-40minutes, and brother was suffering from stiff neck and I was very much advising "Yo don't risk it." Anyways, minutes later, we were all buckled up on the roller coaster...
*Screams*!!!!!
I seriously didn't expect something like that - the fear of getting pushed with a force so that you and your feet are dangling up in mid-air and rushing towards the direction of the force. I am so so so so so thankful for a few secomds when its goes upwards and sideways. The downwards part?? Damn bloody scary! Each time I see/feel the downward movement coming, my heart stops for 1 seconds with a heavy thump and I gripped onto the smelly seat-holder tightly and let my lungs scream!
Then the next scary direction? Swing you upside-down and snake you upwards again lol!
I let out many "wtfs" while on the ride :X Can't help it!
30 seconds later (I feel it was so bloody long) we step down with our jelly legs that don't feel like ours anymore and wriggled down the stairs and letting out many "hahaha"~~!
Seriously, right after that I have a huge dead feeling that roller coaster is too scary for me...and it doesn't help that my brain keeps analyzing the roller coaster moments and figuring out the scary portions, which and what part, and what makes it so scary.
Here are the analysis results:
- The view itself? It is not scary. I am not afraid of heights
- The scariest part - or the feeling of danger - is actually the force of acceleration that the seats are pushing you towards as you ascend (not scary to me) or descend (yeah!!) or go in the direction it is pushing you. That is the most thrilling part. The view, whatever you see, gives my brain the signal that the thrilling part is coming, triggering all sorts of alarm and giving me the 1 second dead heartbeat.
So, I am still up for sky-diving which shouldn't come with the extra force. But roller coaster? I gotta prepare my lungs first.
Right after that ride, I felt my neck getting stiff up in the left side. It stuck with me the entire day..sheesh~~
Lol, hahaha anyways my sis brought us to the roller coaster (Humans) next door and my brother dropped out immediately lols! xD. I gathered my guts and head on with her. Queued for about an hour and off we go in the sky again. This feels like a much more humane version, letting you keep your legs on something solid - but seriously I only remember the times of accelerating drops xD. Halfway through, I decided to laugh instead of scream - which helps myself so much better :D
My brain gotta quit analyzing everything...
We gathered our brother and went onto Transformer 3D ride. Halfway during the queue the technical maintenance went on and we had to wait in line without proceeding for about 30 minutes. *Munch my tabao-ed subway* But hear the crowd big "HURRAY!" when it was finally over and off we go! I was actually expecting it to be more of a cinematic effect, according to the weak experience I had in a so-called 4D ride in Bandung...This attraction, will run you around, spin you, jerk forward and backward, send some water and heat along. This isn't too scary, but definitely better than expected.
Our fourth attraction was the Mummy ride. I seriously love the Egyptian decorations as it was really nicely done! But I hated the wait in the "dungeons" as the light was dimming and brightening trying to create the eerie effect...giving me a headache and eyeache. My sis says "This one nothing since you can't see anything"! But isn't it the scariest if you can't see and anticipate?? Anyways, while all in the dark and aboard the car, I grab hard on the handle and feel myself being swing left right forward backward in the car and at some point I was so freaked out of the expecting the jerking movement I had to shut my eyes and just "AHHH!" lolol. xD
We exited and lingered around the Egyptian attraction when the ushers informed us to stand behind the line saying a parade was approaching. We waited out and yup! The parade was here (didn't expected it) and it was a fun, light, and mood lifting performance in the big sun. Loves the Magadascar section because they are so funny xD. The chipmunks/racoons especially xD.
Headed onto the Jurassic Park and sis was going on about how she missed that ride the last time she was here. She went on to get a locker, turns out that the lockers in this section are hungry for money :P. $4 per hour, and we decided to go for 2 hours since waiting time was getting longer. So she fed it a $10 note and...nom nom nom...no change. xD
Tip #2 - Lockers do not give change, so give it the exact amount~!
We proceeded to the queue and about 20 minutes later, it the attraction had ceased operation due to rain :P. Waited in line for a while longer only to finally quit and say we shall be back. Pick up our bags from locker (damn the $10 note) and headed onto a very simple accelerator ride that just spins you round and round for about 30 seconds like a washing machine... xD. Ain't much fun but not many things you can do when rain is pouring. Lucky for us, after the accelerator the rain seemed to have stop and we decided to rush into the water ride again.
Can't help overhearing some other Singaporeans talking about spending $11.50 for a plate of chicken rice. ROFL! So..bring your own lunch ^^!
Tip #3 - Use free lockers at other attractions, but make sure it is within the timing of the water ride's attraction
This time! We locked our bags in the lockers at Egyptian area (which was free for 50 minutes), quickly run to the water ride (queuing time: 50 minute), and in no time, we were aboard one of the water rides. This was very much easy and fun, you simply bobbed about and go with the water current. Just all of the sudden we ended up in a dark drain and were raised up to a level without any lights - was expecting some water to suddenly pour down and I have my head down when a white flash light shot across - for pictures. Lol. Then, we were suddenly thrown out backwards and being seated in the worst spot when we were thrown out into the waters, I was thoroughly soaked through when the waters retaliated lol xD.
We bobbed back to the attraction queue and waited for the ushers to signal us that we could finally get off...then another water boat came in behind us...this girl in that boat took one look at me and giggled. Lolol hahaha...must be in such a drenched condition lawls xD. Right outside, there are some heat pods that could dry you up... for a $5 fee. ^^ really know how to make money eh
Rushed back to the Egyptian area and pick up our bags, phew! Still in time not to be charged for overtime. :D Headed on to Puss in Boots ride and dry up ourselves. The next spot was a very disney feeling world and super pretty fairytale looking place. The decorations of Puss in Boots were very much about noming humans haha and we boarded the ride on the front row...Ok, ain't that bad haha, and at certain point we were nearly grazing the the grass when the ride went downwards. xD. I am luckily seated in the middle, being sandwich by my bro and sis :D ~ less scary!
Finally ending off with a slightly much drier self (nature-dried), phototaking, dinner and dessert time at Vivocity.
Till now, whenever the MRT starts to move off or slow down, or when the bus moves over a hump, I am immediately reminded of the Battlestar Galatica ride...the entire feeling itself lol! Totally couldn't sleep last night and woke up with a even worse neck. But I'll say, I am still daring enough to go up on another ride lol (my brain says so)
Monday, July 18, 2016
Monday, March 28, 2016
Door slamming and Lightbulbs
I was trying to tackle this programming problem in my office cubicle. It was all quiet. And then, all of a sudden, BLAM!
Right away, all of my solving process just when poof. Oh well, I haven't gotten to the right part on solving the problem, but sheesh THOSE DOOR SLAMMING ARE KILLING MY LIGHTBULBS!
I got into a short moment of rapid heart pumping and all angry thoughts just flushed upwards telling me to act act ACT! In all that silence, I took a glance at my colleague, whom seems to be slightly annoyed - he opened the (our) door, and glanced out (maybe-hopefully-glared-out)? A short 5 seconds later, we heard "sorry".
I was even having a a thought of slamming my book in all that anger.
It was about a few minutes before knocking off, and I had to try even harder to reformulate my previous thought process. All the while, pesky angry thoughts just keep coming up.
Finally I turn off my desktop and headed to the lift. Entering the lift, I was trying to find out why was I so angry about. And lol, suddenly the lightbulb did visualized in my head and went shattered into pieces. With so many people (strangers) in the lift I was suddenly itching for a chuckle. Am I going hysterical????
o.o;
I have a feeling maybe I ain't so normal?
Just trying to calm myself, the heart-beating still hasn't gone down yet and I am dying to laugh out loud over an image of lightbulb shattering in my head.
The entire evening on my trip back home, I am trying to figure out is this some kind of anxiety issue and how should I react the next time. We cannot, CANNOT have people slamming doors for no good reasons! And it ain't the first time they did it. Seriously. Right now again, the temper is rising. Lightbulb. Lightbulb. Lightbulb.
Right away, all of my solving process just when poof. Oh well, I haven't gotten to the right part on solving the problem, but sheesh THOSE DOOR SLAMMING ARE KILLING MY LIGHTBULBS!
I got into a short moment of rapid heart pumping and all angry thoughts just flushed upwards telling me to act act ACT! In all that silence, I took a glance at my colleague, whom seems to be slightly annoyed - he opened the (our) door, and glanced out (maybe-hopefully-glared-out)? A short 5 seconds later, we heard "sorry".
I was even having a a thought of slamming my book in all that anger.
It was about a few minutes before knocking off, and I had to try even harder to reformulate my previous thought process. All the while, pesky angry thoughts just keep coming up.
Finally I turn off my desktop and headed to the lift. Entering the lift, I was trying to find out why was I so angry about. And lol, suddenly the lightbulb did visualized in my head and went shattered into pieces. With so many people (strangers) in the lift I was suddenly itching for a chuckle. Am I going hysterical????
o.o;
I have a feeling maybe I ain't so normal?
Just trying to calm myself, the heart-beating still hasn't gone down yet and I am dying to laugh out loud over an image of lightbulb shattering in my head.
The entire evening on my trip back home, I am trying to figure out is this some kind of anxiety issue and how should I react the next time. We cannot, CANNOT have people slamming doors for no good reasons! And it ain't the first time they did it. Seriously. Right now again, the temper is rising. Lightbulb. Lightbulb. Lightbulb.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Barcelona, Spain
18/11 - Day 8 - Barcelona, Night Time
Transiting to Hotel
Ok, here comes another scare that we had luckily forgotten since we didn't take any metro in Seville, and Granada. Limited escalators at metros.
It was around 10-11pm when we reached the Barcelona airport. Got our luggage, and boarded the airport shuttle to the central area, Catalunya.
One thing about the shuttle, it has got this area where you put your luggage at - top or the bottom rack. Of course everyone aims for the bottom where possible and when it was our turn, our luggage was so damn heavy and the top rack since very high up...nevermind, we shall just stand with our luggage (theres a small standing area). Along the bus trip, made a comment to my sis...
"You know, if we ran into accident and the bus fling sideways...those luggage are gonna come flying at where we are standing. We gonna get smashed into pulp waha".
Reached and found the metro station, and lol, I totally forgot the scare with the metro and stairs and limited escalator options - we found ourselves dragging the luggage down and up the stairs o.o;;;;;
I was lagging behind while my sis was way far in front, and I was tugging and heaving, some passengers were very nice to offer help right away ^-^ very thankful to the very kind community here.
So we were changing from this metro line to that metro line - again more scares cos every line you change you get to meet the stairs again. :P. Then come the final crackdown - theres no train - all closed! Taxi ~ Oh I am so glad we finally took a taxi lol.
So one tip - if you were going anywhere with your luggage, don't try the train - unless its a teeny weeny light luggage. Just taxi ;P I mean for travel yeah...
Again, really kudos to the drivers here, every one of them helped us with the luggage - and they aren't light... super thankful to them.
19/11 - Day 9
Sagrada Familia
Come the grand morning for our first itinerary at Barcelona - the Sagrada Familia. Meanwhile we walked a little distance from our hotel, and spotted some of the possible souvenirs like Jamon. And that day, the morning was warmer as compared to other places we had been to.
We were outside admiring the temple and it was truly aspiring - many details were on the outside but I have to say I am lacking some background information on it. We went on into the interior, and it has those pillars that were structured like trees.
An hour later, we gathered at the tour guide area, and began the tour. And really, you must either get a guide or read up the information on this temple. Summing up, there were 4 facade, Birth, Death, Glory, Passion. The building itself is still under construction due to its rather dramatic history. If I remembered correctly, only 2 were finished, and the 3rd facade was due to finish in the next 10 years (possibly 2025?). Our guide recommends to come and revisit because the building will evolve through generations of architect and we will be able to admire different architect's work. Its a unique piece of its own, and of course, we would wanna see the the third facade too.
Just based on this building alone and the guide's words, yeah 2025 - we shall be back.
Lunch - La Tasqueta de Blai
Next up, lunch. It was a long walk, and quite a bit of stairs/uphill.
This restaurant/bar serves tapas, and all tapas were just placed on the counter, so you just walked up and pick the most appealing ones ^^.
Those were yummy, and I like this take-and-eat kinda style, especially when you are hungry. Afterwards, just help arranges those toothpicks that came with the tapas on a plate nicely so that they can calculate the cost.
Castell de Montjuic
Next, take a bus to Castell de Montjuic. Here, my sis took me on a rather long ride as we ended up going towards the wrong direction o.o; Alighted and waited another 10 mins before the next bus comes. And yet again, we go off a stop earlier, and had to walk up the long winding road before we reach our destination. x_x
This is like a fortress and its front is very pretty - the greens are very green, and the browns are very medieval brown.
Very nice and medieval place for tons of photos.
Was a good 2 hours spent.
Picasso Museum
There were some memorable pieces we saw here, but we don't really know art so...I felt we kinda wasted some time there :X
But we like the Les Pigeons definitely, I got some of those postcards home as souvenirs :D
Dinner - Maccaroni
Muahaha I voided the plan to find Bacao Burger (original dinner plan). They serves Italian cuisine, mainly pasta (only?). The unique experience here is - select your type of pasta, sauces, and any additional topping for your pasta.
The staffs here were super friendly and kept checking on us like "hows everything?!". ^-^ Totally recommend this place.
Own Time Own Target
We had some time left and took to a little shopping at the district we were at. Afterwards, heading back to hotel region, found a mart, bought some water, and the next day breakfast. ^-^
20/11 - Day 10
We began the day with a quick breakfast: stuff bought from nearby mart ie sandwiches and I had to finish the Piononos that I bought from Granada. Heads up, if you don't like sweet stuff, I don't recommend trying Pionono. So far my experience with them, despite reading that they are the must-try-from-Granada, has ended as too-uber-sweet-for-my-preference. So at Granada I picked up the box of Piononos, there were like 8 of them, 2 for each day. x_x No-uh, lets just finish them all and not see it again.
After which, our itinerary for the day begins.
Parc Guell
One of the main architectural sights by Gaudi. I can't really remember how did we reached there but sis took me for a long bus ride then followed by tons of walk and tons of stairs. And it is really scary when I look up those stairs - the good news, theres one elevator that goes up - no elevator to come back down. I seriously don't hope we have to trace back here after we were done with Parc Guell.
So, we reached Parc Guell, and then it dawned upon us, there are buses that comes right up here, and there is more than one entrance to Parc Guell. Sis sure know how to pick the challenging ones. Lol! xD
I thought the best things here were
- broken tiles that were "embossed"(?) the wavy seats
- a main place with those really weird pillars (@.@ I sucks at describing)
- chameleon sculpture
It was super hard to get a good picture of the chameleon you see, we just wanted the chameleon not a photo with it - but everyone else seems to think otherwise. 360 degrees of posture with the chameleon wasn't enough and so I don't remember me myself waiting out for it. There were some fountains nearby with froggies and that was cute as well. I shall check if I got a picture of that.
Parc Guell as summarized, I love those broken tiles design. But I don't feel that I would be coming back though. ^^
Lunch - Las Delicias
So now to exit Parc Guell find the bus and take it to our lunch spot - we went out through a wrong exit and detoured tons of times to finally find the bus. Anyhoo, we got into Las Delicias which was rather quiet at the bar area, and we sat in their dining room (we were the only ones there!!!!)
While going through their menu, I saw the very one thing I know I must have...IBERICO SECRETO!!! Oki, if you see Secreto on menu, ditch everything else and just have that!
Muchhhh enjoyed!
Colonial Guell
After lunch, we got ourselves back into a train station to make our way to Colonial Guell. Lol oki here the stupid thing I recommended that we did, and nearly cost us a ton. We needed to purchase ticket for another metro line and at the ticket machine, I decided that we should just get one-way. Well like, the train station on the other side would have a ticket machine and we could get another ticket to come back. So we happily proceeded with one-way ticket...and the Train Ticket Story here on continues later.
So while heading there we followed the signs that were located for tourist convenience to bring us into Colonial Guell. At one spot, we nearly went off the wrong path and the security guard just right across the road signal to me and lol (its quite a funny exchange across the street haha :D), gahhh I could always remember how nice everyone in Spain were <3. We went right back on track and continue our journey into the Colonial Guell.
You know, when looking back at these photos, I feel like I was in a gingerbreadman world? I mean, those buildings looks really yummily-awesome~
Colonial Guell is a really nice and quiet neighbourhood to explore and every thing here looks really unique on its own. Not many tourist while we were there and the entire place was just for us to explore freely. We had the audio guide, so I listen and bring my sis everywhere while she snaps photo. ^^
I think the best part of Colonial Guell would be the crypt. It is super super super amazing for just one tiny detail:
While we were inside the lady there was super nice to help us take a photograph, advise on the audio guide number to listen to (we forgot while we were there!). Then then, come the bombastic thing... a tourist group came inside the crypt and began introducing the structure, the lady very nicely went to pull open the window flaps so that there were light...and the tourist group goes "woahhhh..."
That was seriously very very amazing! Each window has different colour effect and the following photo wasn't added with any filter - it just looked amazing. Just wait till you see the window grills from outside!
One spot within the Colonial Guell compounds. Mesmerizing little path. Where wilt thou lead me?
The only area we didn't manage to complete within the Colonial Guell was one odd area (...torres something..?) that we managed to see while afar, but going close up, how-the-hell-can-we-get-there??? This really odd place looked like a tower, but we couldn't find any way to get in there x_x
Exiting Colonial Guell, we went back to the train station and thats where we continue our Train Ticket story:
We got a one-way-ticket previously. So now we had to get another ticket to get back to the city center. The problem is...where is the ticketing machine!?!?!?!
Zomg.
So, no ticket machine, we were outta ways, just curiously enough we had 2 tickets that can only be used in the main city area's metro system. So just hoping that would work we inserted our ticket each.
Sis inserts - fail
Me insert - o.o; it work!? We entered happily, and shortly sped back to the city center.
Next, upon exiting the train station, we needed to use a ticket to exit. Our ticket do not work. Oh hey theres a ticket machine nearby. Which says, "Fine 50 Euro" or something alike. *jaw dropped*.
50 euro is a lot of food. Like 2 meals for me and sis ;_;
I can say our luck still hadn't run out and the locals are really super awesome - an officer came up to us to check on us. He took our "wrong" tickets swiped it twice into the gates and let us exit. Out of confusion I exited and I forgot to say my thanks x_x (why you so fail!) Lucky for us, we weren't fine and paid a slightly different fare x.x really thankful to everyone we had met so far
Turns out that when we reached, we don't see the machine in sight, but that didn't dawn upon us until we decided to return.
Bouqueria Food Market
We had a short 30 mins here (or lesser) and basically explored the market produces, and mainly...turrons! We were at this store where the lady was selling it and she was quite entertaining xD using quite a mixture of language ie english chinese spanish she engaged us and teehee, I bought quite a bit from her. ^^
Dinner -
We deviated from our plan and headed to a different restaurant. Thats when money goes flying. For that place, I didn't really enjoyed the service but food was ok. ^^ The highest dinner meal money goes here at 45 Euros. ^^
21/11 - Day 11
Old City - Free walking tour
Our first item on the day was a free walking tour, visiting the Jewish quarters in Barcelona. And this was really enjoyable. A small group of about 10-15 people, our guide kickoff with everyone introducing their home country. ^^ We found some Singaporeans in our group as well.
The tour was quite fun with a little bit of role playing to introduce the legend of the Catalan flag (lols about the hairy guy, and the gruesome 4 red strokes down the Catalan flag).
One additional tip while in shopping in Barcelona was to take note of any shop that has a plaque displayed on their front door step. That means that shop had been opened for more than 70 years, and still opened selling the same thing/service. Rather useful tidbit of information to source out for old specialty shops. I think I will be looking at the floor while going shopping in Barcelona. ^^
Some other interesting thinks she mentioned: some of the bricks on the walls were recycled from gravestones. The following picture, shows one of the stones with hebrew faintly imprinted on it.
All in all, when the tour ended, we gave a tipped the guide and - I highly recommend the tour!
Crepes al Born
Our lunch is here! This is rather much of a bar with really funny ideas of "Shots". ^^ Sis and I each picked a crepe for our lunch and I had the Beef Stroganoff.
I wouldn't recommend the stroganoff as the taste is too thick and overpowers the poor crepe. Sis had a simple ham and cheese and that was simply delicious! This bar had some really tacky decorations, and it is a plus for ambience!
My favourite shot of the bar - not sure why the pineapple was doing there ~ tacky~!
Own Time Own Target
After lunch, we headed back to the areas that we had toured previously (old city tour)
There were some markets on selling cheeses, pates, spices and stuff. We only had a quick glance previously and now we are back for more! We found ourselves loading on: cheese, pate, and turrons.
Light shopping and we walked till our legs were weak. xD.
Oh this confectionery I totally recommend it! They have this almond cookies (white-roundish-flaky-looking cookie) which I bought it home - totally awesome! But I totally recommend bringing some plastic containers if you were planning to bring some local cookies home.
I bought those cookies in a tin box just so that they won't crumble while, and it cost about 17 euros just for a few cookies (about 12 pieces?) and the tin box.
Dinner - Cerveceria Catalana
Lol after a super long walk back and forth, I admit was whining much because it was
- super cold
- super tired legs
- super need to pee
We forgot to check the temperature before beginning the day and sis went out strongly without a jacket haha. xD.
At then we were already freezing due to the big cold wind. Who knows the temperature dropped so much at night, plus the big wind hustling us along the way.
We finally found the dinner place after a long walk and we couldn't get a seat inside. So looking at the outside areas there were heater and we didn't mind that...until later.
The heater felt weak.
We sat at the outer-most table, where the wind blows at you first, and there were nothing to block us from it. Shivering, teeth-clacking, we picked up the menu and ordered. We had a small bottle of rose wine which was first placed on the table.
Then to my surprise-shock, the waiter decided to bring along an ice bucket (part of the awesome service).
I was shaking my head "no-need?"
He says, wine is nicer when it is cold. Puts the wine bottle in ice bucket.
X_X We were freezing looool!
But! Back to the thought of food, their grilled prawns and everything else tasted awesome except for tortillas. TORTILLAS WERE SCARY. Don't try it!!!
Wind gets stronger. *teeth clacks louder* Head home! While we wanted very much to shop at along the street, the big cold wind was getting to us. We walked a bit and hide out at the outlets building for a short 5 mins, then goes back out on the street and hop-hide-hop until we reached the train station. xD Unique experience lol seriously memorable but I hope not to do it again. xD
22/11 - Day 12
Checked out from our hotel and headed off to the airport shuttle bus. Lol, then we found shuttle bus stop under modification and had to drag our luggage all to the across 2 streets in the freezing morning. Lol. xD. But all turned out well and we ended up at the airport in no time.
The only frustrating part here was, I was very much planning to shop at Primark at the airport. Just right before the passport check area, there was this elevator that goes down to a shopping zone. o.o; we got weirded out and decided to go on to the passport check thinking that we can end up there later on. But sheeeeeeesh!!! NO SHOPPING AFTER THE PASSPORT CHECK! MY PRIMARK!!!!!!
Yeah I got frustrated :( I was so sosososososososo looking forward to shopping duty free stuff and that airport had lots of shopping stuff too x....x gahhh!
What we had left for shopping was only small duty free shop that offers mainly foodie souvenir. We bought some chorizos and ham from there and teehee at least we had some spanish goodies to enjoy. ^^
We got onto the plane and finally, on our way home. Our flight attendants kindly kept our chorizos and ham in the fridge, super thankful to them for helping us to keep it fresh and cool. <3!
End
Transiting to Hotel
Ok, here comes another scare that we had luckily forgotten since we didn't take any metro in Seville, and Granada. Limited escalators at metros.
It was around 10-11pm when we reached the Barcelona airport. Got our luggage, and boarded the airport shuttle to the central area, Catalunya.
One thing about the shuttle, it has got this area where you put your luggage at - top or the bottom rack. Of course everyone aims for the bottom where possible and when it was our turn, our luggage was so damn heavy and the top rack since very high up...nevermind, we shall just stand with our luggage (theres a small standing area). Along the bus trip, made a comment to my sis...
"You know, if we ran into accident and the bus fling sideways...those luggage are gonna come flying at where we are standing. We gonna get smashed into pulp waha".
Reached and found the metro station, and lol, I totally forgot the scare with the metro and stairs and limited escalator options - we found ourselves dragging the luggage down and up the stairs o.o;;;;;
I was lagging behind while my sis was way far in front, and I was tugging and heaving, some passengers were very nice to offer help right away ^-^ very thankful to the very kind community here.
So we were changing from this metro line to that metro line - again more scares cos every line you change you get to meet the stairs again. :P. Then come the final crackdown - theres no train - all closed! Taxi ~ Oh I am so glad we finally took a taxi lol.
So one tip - if you were going anywhere with your luggage, don't try the train - unless its a teeny weeny light luggage. Just taxi ;P I mean for travel yeah...
Again, really kudos to the drivers here, every one of them helped us with the luggage - and they aren't light... super thankful to them.
19/11 - Day 9
Sagrada Familia
Come the grand morning for our first itinerary at Barcelona - the Sagrada Familia. Meanwhile we walked a little distance from our hotel, and spotted some of the possible souvenirs like Jamon. And that day, the morning was warmer as compared to other places we had been to.
 |
| Small shot of one of the facade of Sagrada Familia |
An hour later, we gathered at the tour guide area, and began the tour. And really, you must either get a guide or read up the information on this temple. Summing up, there were 4 facade, Birth, Death, Glory, Passion. The building itself is still under construction due to its rather dramatic history. If I remembered correctly, only 2 were finished, and the 3rd facade was due to finish in the next 10 years (possibly 2025?). Our guide recommends to come and revisit because the building will evolve through generations of architect and we will be able to admire different architect's work. Its a unique piece of its own, and of course, we would wanna see the the third facade too.
Just based on this building alone and the guide's words, yeah 2025 - we shall be back.
Lunch - La Tasqueta de Blai
Next up, lunch. It was a long walk, and quite a bit of stairs/uphill.
This restaurant/bar serves tapas, and all tapas were just placed on the counter, so you just walked up and pick the most appealing ones ^^.
Can you see the plates with toothpicks displayed on the bar counter?
Those were yummy, and I like this take-and-eat kinda style, especially when you are hungry. Afterwards, just help arranges those toothpicks that came with the tapas on a plate nicely so that they can calculate the cost.
Castell de Montjuic
Next, take a bus to Castell de Montjuic. Here, my sis took me on a rather long ride as we ended up going towards the wrong direction o.o; Alighted and waited another 10 mins before the next bus comes. And yet again, we go off a stop earlier, and had to walk up the long winding road before we reach our destination. x_x
This is like a fortress and its front is very pretty - the greens are very green, and the browns are very medieval brown.
Very nice and medieval place for tons of photos.
Was a good 2 hours spent.
Picasso Museum
There were some memorable pieces we saw here, but we don't really know art so...I felt we kinda wasted some time there :X
But we like the Les Pigeons definitely, I got some of those postcards home as souvenirs :D
Dinner - Maccaroni
Muahaha I voided the plan to find Bacao Burger (original dinner plan). They serves Italian cuisine, mainly pasta (only?). The unique experience here is - select your type of pasta, sauces, and any additional topping for your pasta.
The staffs here were super friendly and kept checking on us like "hows everything?!". ^-^ Totally recommend this place.
Own Time Own Target
We had some time left and took to a little shopping at the district we were at. Afterwards, heading back to hotel region, found a mart, bought some water, and the next day breakfast. ^-^
20/11 - Day 10
We began the day with a quick breakfast: stuff bought from nearby mart ie sandwiches and I had to finish the Piononos that I bought from Granada. Heads up, if you don't like sweet stuff, I don't recommend trying Pionono. So far my experience with them, despite reading that they are the must-try-from-Granada, has ended as too-uber-sweet-for-my-preference. So at Granada I picked up the box of Piononos, there were like 8 of them, 2 for each day. x_x No-uh, lets just finish them all and not see it again.
After which, our itinerary for the day begins.
Parc Guell
One of the main architectural sights by Gaudi. I can't really remember how did we reached there but sis took me for a long bus ride then followed by tons of walk and tons of stairs. And it is really scary when I look up those stairs - the good news, theres one elevator that goes up - no elevator to come back down. I seriously don't hope we have to trace back here after we were done with Parc Guell.
So, we reached Parc Guell, and then it dawned upon us, there are buses that comes right up here, and there is more than one entrance to Parc Guell. Sis sure know how to pick the challenging ones. Lol! xD
I thought the best things here were
- broken tiles that were "embossed"(?) the wavy seats
- a main place with those really weird pillars (@.@ I sucks at describing)
- chameleon sculpture
It was super hard to get a good picture of the chameleon you see, we just wanted the chameleon not a photo with it - but everyone else seems to think otherwise. 360 degrees of posture with the chameleon wasn't enough and so I don't remember me myself waiting out for it. There were some fountains nearby with froggies and that was cute as well. I shall check if I got a picture of that.
Parc Guell as summarized, I love those broken tiles design. But I don't feel that I would be coming back though. ^^
Lunch - Las Delicias
So now to exit Parc Guell find the bus and take it to our lunch spot - we went out through a wrong exit and detoured tons of times to finally find the bus. Anyhoo, we got into Las Delicias which was rather quiet at the bar area, and we sat in their dining room (we were the only ones there!!!!)
While going through their menu, I saw the very one thing I know I must have...IBERICO SECRETO!!! Oki, if you see Secreto on menu, ditch everything else and just have that!
Muchhhh enjoyed!
Colonial Guell
After lunch, we got ourselves back into a train station to make our way to Colonial Guell. Lol oki here the stupid thing I recommended that we did, and nearly cost us a ton. We needed to purchase ticket for another metro line and at the ticket machine, I decided that we should just get one-way. Well like, the train station on the other side would have a ticket machine and we could get another ticket to come back. So we happily proceeded with one-way ticket...and the Train Ticket Story here on continues later.
So while heading there we followed the signs that were located for tourist convenience to bring us into Colonial Guell. At one spot, we nearly went off the wrong path and the security guard just right across the road signal to me and lol (its quite a funny exchange across the street haha :D), gahhh I could always remember how nice everyone in Spain were <3. We went right back on track and continue our journey into the Colonial Guell.
You know, when looking back at these photos, I feel like I was in a gingerbreadman world? I mean, those buildings looks really yummily-awesome~
Colonial Guell is a really nice and quiet neighbourhood to explore and every thing here looks really unique on its own. Not many tourist while we were there and the entire place was just for us to explore freely. We had the audio guide, so I listen and bring my sis everywhere while she snaps photo. ^^
I think the best part of Colonial Guell would be the crypt. It is super super super amazing for just one tiny detail:
While we were inside the lady there was super nice to help us take a photograph, advise on the audio guide number to listen to (we forgot while we were there!). Then then, come the bombastic thing... a tourist group came inside the crypt and began introducing the structure, the lady very nicely went to pull open the window flaps so that there were light...and the tourist group goes "woahhhh..."
That was seriously very very amazing! Each window has different colour effect and the following photo wasn't added with any filter - it just looked amazing. Just wait till you see the window grills from outside!
Lol, after which we went onto the top of the crypt and camwhore tons lolol xD.
The only area we didn't manage to complete within the Colonial Guell was one odd area (...torres something..?) that we managed to see while afar, but going close up, how-the-hell-can-we-get-there??? This really odd place looked like a tower, but we couldn't find any way to get in there x_x
Exiting Colonial Guell, we went back to the train station and thats where we continue our Train Ticket story:
We got a one-way-ticket previously. So now we had to get another ticket to get back to the city center. The problem is...where is the ticketing machine!?!?!?!
Zomg.
So, no ticket machine, we were outta ways, just curiously enough we had 2 tickets that can only be used in the main city area's metro system. So just hoping that would work we inserted our ticket each.
Sis inserts - fail
Me insert - o.o; it work!? We entered happily, and shortly sped back to the city center.
Next, upon exiting the train station, we needed to use a ticket to exit. Our ticket do not work. Oh hey theres a ticket machine nearby. Which says, "Fine 50 Euro" or something alike. *jaw dropped*.
50 euro is a lot of food. Like 2 meals for me and sis ;_;
I can say our luck still hadn't run out and the locals are really super awesome - an officer came up to us to check on us. He took our "wrong" tickets swiped it twice into the gates and let us exit. Out of confusion I exited and I forgot to say my thanks x_x (why you so fail!) Lucky for us, we weren't fine and paid a slightly different fare x.x really thankful to everyone we had met so far
Turns out that when we reached, we don't see the machine in sight, but that didn't dawn upon us until we decided to return.
Bouqueria Food Market
We had a short 30 mins here (or lesser) and basically explored the market produces, and mainly...turrons! We were at this store where the lady was selling it and she was quite entertaining xD using quite a mixture of language ie english chinese spanish she engaged us and teehee, I bought quite a bit from her. ^^
Dinner -
We deviated from our plan and headed to a different restaurant. Thats when money goes flying. For that place, I didn't really enjoyed the service but food was ok. ^^ The highest dinner meal money goes here at 45 Euros. ^^
21/11 - Day 11
Old City - Free walking tour
Our first item on the day was a free walking tour, visiting the Jewish quarters in Barcelona. And this was really enjoyable. A small group of about 10-15 people, our guide kickoff with everyone introducing their home country. ^^ We found some Singaporeans in our group as well.
The tour was quite fun with a little bit of role playing to introduce the legend of the Catalan flag (lols about the hairy guy, and the gruesome 4 red strokes down the Catalan flag).
One additional tip while in shopping in Barcelona was to take note of any shop that has a plaque displayed on their front door step. That means that shop had been opened for more than 70 years, and still opened selling the same thing/service. Rather useful tidbit of information to source out for old specialty shops. I think I will be looking at the floor while going shopping in Barcelona. ^^
Some other interesting thinks she mentioned: some of the bricks on the walls were recycled from gravestones. The following picture, shows one of the stones with hebrew faintly imprinted on it.
All in all, when the tour ended, we gave a tipped the guide and - I highly recommend the tour!
One of the grand exterior of a Gothic Catedral that we passed by during the tour.
Crepes al Born
Our lunch is here! This is rather much of a bar with really funny ideas of "Shots". ^^ Sis and I each picked a crepe for our lunch and I had the Beef Stroganoff.
I wouldn't recommend the stroganoff as the taste is too thick and overpowers the poor crepe. Sis had a simple ham and cheese and that was simply delicious! This bar had some really tacky decorations, and it is a plus for ambience!
My favourite shot of the bar - not sure why the pineapple was doing there ~ tacky~!
Own Time Own Target
After lunch, we headed back to the areas that we had toured previously (old city tour)
There were some markets on selling cheeses, pates, spices and stuff. We only had a quick glance previously and now we are back for more! We found ourselves loading on: cheese, pate, and turrons.
Light shopping and we walked till our legs were weak. xD.
Oh this confectionery I totally recommend it! They have this almond cookies (white-roundish-flaky-looking cookie) which I bought it home - totally awesome! But I totally recommend bringing some plastic containers if you were planning to bring some local cookies home.
Dinner - Cerveceria Catalana
Lol after a super long walk back and forth, I admit was whining much because it was
- super cold
- super tired legs
- super need to pee
We forgot to check the temperature before beginning the day and sis went out strongly without a jacket haha. xD.
At then we were already freezing due to the big cold wind. Who knows the temperature dropped so much at night, plus the big wind hustling us along the way.
We finally found the dinner place after a long walk and we couldn't get a seat inside. So looking at the outside areas there were heater and we didn't mind that...until later.
The heater felt weak.
We sat at the outer-most table, where the wind blows at you first, and there were nothing to block us from it. Shivering, teeth-clacking, we picked up the menu and ordered. We had a small bottle of rose wine which was first placed on the table.
Then to my surprise-shock, the waiter decided to bring along an ice bucket (part of the awesome service).
I was shaking my head "no-need?"
He says, wine is nicer when it is cold. Puts the wine bottle in ice bucket.
X_X We were freezing looool!
But! Back to the thought of food, their grilled prawns and everything else tasted awesome except for tortillas. TORTILLAS WERE SCARY. Don't try it!!!
Wind gets stronger. *teeth clacks louder* Head home! While we wanted very much to shop at along the street, the big cold wind was getting to us. We walked a bit and hide out at the outlets building for a short 5 mins, then goes back out on the street and hop-hide-hop until we reached the train station. xD Unique experience lol seriously memorable but I hope not to do it again. xD
22/11 - Day 12
Checked out from our hotel and headed off to the airport shuttle bus. Lol, then we found shuttle bus stop under modification and had to drag our luggage all to the across 2 streets in the freezing morning. Lol. xD. But all turned out well and we ended up at the airport in no time.
The only frustrating part here was, I was very much planning to shop at Primark at the airport. Just right before the passport check area, there was this elevator that goes down to a shopping zone. o.o; we got weirded out and decided to go on to the passport check thinking that we can end up there later on. But sheeeeeeesh!!! NO SHOPPING AFTER THE PASSPORT CHECK! MY PRIMARK!!!!!!
Yeah I got frustrated :( I was so sosososososososo looking forward to shopping duty free stuff and that airport had lots of shopping stuff too x....x gahhh!
What we had left for shopping was only small duty free shop that offers mainly foodie souvenir. We bought some chorizos and ham from there and teehee at least we had some spanish goodies to enjoy. ^^
We got onto the plane and finally, on our way home. Our flight attendants kindly kept our chorizos and ham in the fridge, super thankful to them for helping us to keep it fresh and cool. <3!
End
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Granada, Spain
Onto the most beautiful city, in my opinion, Granada.
16/11 - Day 7 - Afternoon
From Seville, we took renfe train towards Granada. The renfe station at Granada worked differently from other stations we had taken.
1. No security check to scan our bags
2. No ticket counter to verify our tickets - we just hopped on.
Oh well, anyways we got onto the train, plugged into our iPads for movies. Then a few stops later, one ticketing officer came by and asked for our tickets, on the train. Which was like...way too late to be checking our tickets? Lol.
Anyways, he continued with his ticket checks, and we continued with our movies.
Then the one thing happened. Announcement began, and was first in Spanish before being in English. Then, everyone was starting to talk during the English announcement and I couldn't hear anything said. :p. When alas I could finally hear the announcement in English, it was too slightly complicated for me to understand. Everyone then had grabbed their bags and both of us had a really big question mark. O.o?
Plucking up my courage to speak up in espanol...(Hopefully someone replies)
Me: "Hola"?
One guy: "Si?"
Me: "El tren, vamos Granada?" - ok, very broken spanish hahaha
Can't remember what was said exactly, but the guy who answered me seems to know I don't speak much Spanish, and phrased his reply in the easiest way to understand. Very much thankful to him. What happened was, there were constructions going on from one of the stations onwards to Granada. So, the arrangement was to drop off at the next stop, take the shuttle bus provided to move on to the next station.
So, that was kinda unpredicted and sis was nearly bent on sitting on train until "Granada" if we hadn't asked. So we got off train, followed the crowd, and found the buses waiting. I wouldn't dare run for a toilet break cause it didn't feel like they will wait for us. Seems like the bus were there just to pick up passengers from this train.
The journey was about 1.5 hours long. Lol, A German sat opposite us in the next rows of sit. Throughout the journey, we had a small conversation going on. :) Was a pleasant journey.
Finally reached Granada, and it was the coldest city we had set foot onto yet. We walked up towards the taxi stand, as it was looking very dark to be wandering by ourselves on the first day. I initially planned to take a bus, and then walked up the long straight road to our Airbnb apartment. But better not.
And I have to say the taxi drivers here in Spain were very very helpful. This is Case 1. Lol. Didn't expect him to help us carry our luggage and put them into the trunk. (anyways my last account with a taxi in Singapore, the driver just waited in his car for us to load luggage ourselves P). And our luggage, were heavy. Lol after I gave a wide-eye-jaw-drop in appreciation of him helping us with the luggage, I said "Fuerte!", meaning "Strong!" xD.
Somehow his fellow colleagues/friends standing around heard me and started to joke in Spanish. They said that he was strong cause he eats a lot of Iberico Jamon! Wahahaha, one way to promote the Iberico products in Spain. Some laughter here and there and we were definitely amused. Teehee~!
From train to Sacromonte area (where our AirBnb apartment was at), it was roughly 7 euros. So, lol, feeling that it ain't that expensive. ^-^ After we got off, and was looking confused at where was the street that our host said to go to, the driver was really nice to get off his taxi, and direct us to the street.
You know the S-shape? He waved that as the direction. Our apartment...oh my, a super long climb. Whats more, the road up there...wonderfully paved by stones that were about palm size big. Lol, My sis and I began dragging our luggage up. Lots of whining and groaning happened and I half-thought we were gonna let go of our luggage accidentally then it will go tumbling down the S-shaped path. Lol. Later I heard from my sis that she hit herself with a cactus during the climb up xD.
After much ordeal, like 30mins (maybe exaggerated) passed, we finally found ourselves in front of the gate as directed by our host. So...in the dark night, I stuck and turned the key left-and-right left-and-right, after what seemed like 10mins, the gate finally spared us and opened. What happened next was all the more funny:
I thought finally we found our home! Just right in front! We rushed there, and stuck the other key in. Some how, it just don't opened! I can't even turn it. All in my mind was going like, oh shit I don't want to go down the stoney S-path with my luggage and find a hotel in the night ;.;.
Then the door opened.
I thought it was the host.
They were another guests. xD!
You know those scary movies, where you were the ones inside the house and then suddenly the door knob started shaking like someone/some-ghost-or-monster was trying to open from the other side, basically we were that "someone" on the other side. xD.
Much apologies happened xD, and they told us, our apartment might be the ones up the stairs.
The stairs. O.O
Omg.. so much more ... climbing. And those stairs were steep, and very skinny. We had to work together to bring up one luggage at a time because it was very steep and the railing nearly didn't exist. ;_;.
Finally, we found ourselves with another door that refused to open up to us. :( So much ordeal that day. Ok, anyways we finally did find ourselves with yet another door that finally opened and looked as advertised. Finally...big relax. Lol.
One of the weak night-shot from my camera from the balcony inside.
We decided to cancel the Zambra show we booked for that night, which was conveniently located right beneath the S-path. We were just too tired, worn-out from the climb. Lol. I called and cancelled, but was lucky to be informed that their show was cancelled too. Sadly, this was the only planned Zambra/flamenco show for Spain, and we missed it :( And too, we decided to cancel dining out. Haha. Ok, lets just find whatever expendable souvenir we had bought...the marzapans! Lol - which was badly crumpled up. :( Anyways if you were planning to bring some goodies back, theres a chance they may serve goodies in a paper bag which seems like the common practice in Spain, bring some hard plastic box. :P.
Funny, we each prepared 2 cup noodles for Spain. all were gone in during Madrid. Lol, Anyways, after we finally settled down (bathed, unpacked essentials) we finally get to take in the apartment itself - which fancied the Moorish-tiles design. We have a small terrace right in front of our beds, where you can opened up the wooden windows, if you welcome the cooling breeze. There was also an upstairs, which is an open-air terrace. You get to hang your laundry up there, and there was a BBQ pit there too. o.O
We started to hunt for the washer, but couldn't get it to work. Very confusing o.O. And there were 2 very cute cats, which keeps following us and wanting to be let inside. They were very scary at the stairs though, darting up and down while I was trying hard to grab the walls so I wouldn't fall.
So, in all excitement for the sun rise moment the next day (this is a perfect flat to see either sun-rise/set as it was rather high up on a hilly area, and with Alhambra as part of the scenery it would be totally amazing right??), I set my alarm for 6 am. Which rang.
And there was no sun rise. All was dark.
I think I got my directions wrong lol, Later in the day I realised there was huge mountain which was blocking it.
17/11 - Day 7
One of the shots from our terrace again! In the morning. The Alhambra sit grandly on the left, while the right-side is the Sacromonte (where we were). It is really super cold that morning too, can you "see" it??
Walking to Alhambra Guided Tour Meet-Up Point
Our official day one here begins with Alhambra (shall refer to it collectively for Generalife, Alhambra, Nasrid Palace), which we had booked a tour. Left with no Milo, both of us were quite hungry and cold, after we dropped off at the wrong bus stop, which leads us into a very different district, the Albaicin). Had to backtrace, and find ourselves in a bar that was opened, and got 2 hot chocolate and mineral water.
Woohoo, then walked on. The klutz in me argues with sis that we should take the longer route, around the Generalife and Alhambra compound when a shorter road appears (a big U-shape path). I didn't wanna risk getting stuck in the dead-end and had to do more back-tracing. Anyways, I think I was wrong later on...
Panicking as we haven't reached our designated meetup point, frantically called the tour and was informed that I was very early - my tour begins at 10.15am. My voucher stated 9.30-10am. x__x
Finally reached the meet-up point, GranaVision, which also has a cafe. Weehee, Ordered a sandwich each and they provided us with 2 different Pate to try. ^-^.
Oh yes, Pâté, should try and get some from Spain. It is something alike canned tuna paste spread that goes with bread. I prefer my bread to be slightly thicker, preferably toasted (like baguette) before spreading the Pâté
Generalife, Alhambra and Nasrid Palace
Finally our tour began. We first visited Generalife. It was huge, gorgeous, and smells veryyyy lovely! The last description, seriously, I have to emphasize it. Many of the garden we visited smells a little fishy where there were fountains - like the water hadn't been changed. But not here, Generalife was beyond looks, and it totally gives you a fresher mind after a few hours of stay. The garden was very well-maintained, we saw the gardeners trimming off the trees. And here, no plants looks dead - all flowers were vibrant with colors, and really superbly beautiful.
I took some photos using my iPad, a weak 2MP camera and I had to say, the photographic scenes itself just make the 2MP camera awesome.
Oh on that day I forgot my portable battery, had to save my phone's battery which seems to run out rather quickly in Spain, as I was the guide (between me and sis) for Granada. I had to use my iPad to take photos instead.
We then visited Alhambra, and the Nasrid Palace. To be honest, I can't remember which part belongs to which, so I am just putting them together.
The ceilings, doorways, pillars, were beautifully decorated with Arabic carving patterns. I seriously wonder how did they get it up on ceiling and such. And there were inscriptions which says something along, "There is no conqueror greater than Allah".
There were a huge lots of stuff to see, and our tour, roughly 4 hours (including Generalife) wasn't enough. The tour itself basically provides itself as an informative tour, and with the tickets, we could still go back to Generalife and Alhambra. Nasrid Palace is slightly more complicated with the entrance, and it is stated by your ticket.
I got a little itchy-hand in one of the rooms, cause I just had to touch and see how did they do the Arabic patterns. Touch touch here and there. Then one of the guards, ever-most discreetly said "Hola" to me.
He: Waves the finger left-right-left-right.
Me: nod-nod
He was the most polite guard I had ever encountered in my entire Spain trip xD. In other places, they will be Hola-ing you loudly, and the entire room of people will be looking at you, and then telling you No-this-No-that.
The next time I come back to Spain, I am definitely revisiting this spot, and I will be planning three-quarter day in it. But I shall be fully prepared with all the readings (I didn't do any :X other than reading that it should be the first itinerary in Spain).
This a must must must must must!
And don't worry about toilet break. There is a building of toilets, as named by our guide haha, located within the main compound just before the places where you need to present your tickets to other parts of the Alhambra..
On our way out, I kept hearing a vague "hello!", "hello!" Didn't react until this kid was right in front of me and "HELLO!"
Kid: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Singapore"
Kid, jaw-drop: "Woah!"
Kid: "My first one!"
Me: ???
xD Not sure what about the first one, probably collecting countries? Hahaha, but damn cute xD
So we head down the long path to the main square, it was like 2pm when we finally headed out of Alhambra, and along the way there were many souvenir shops. Many offering handmade items, and I got myself some of those wooden coasters. The shop owner was very nice, and he was doing some of the handmade items while we looked around. Was very tempted to bring some of the bulkier item back...but thinking about my heavy luggage...
Finally we reached the main square at 3pm after dawdling at the souvenir shops. Teehee, we hadn't had lunch.
Lunch - La Riviera
This one! Go! Super value in Spain. Lol, we were looking at the menu and wanted to order 2 mains, aand some tapas to share. Something about small plates in Singapore keeps getting to us, we always wanna order mains and sides to share. Lol. Halfway through ordering, the lady tell us,
"Stop! Too much!" o.O;
"One drink, one free tapa - choose (gesture to menu)".
Lol! Ok, so we rearrange our orders...
They gave us a starter tapa which we didn't order, and it was delicious (free too!) something alike a potato salad.
Then we were served our drinks, and 2 tapas.
I can't really remember what did we ordered, I ended up with like 2 big platters that looks like main courses: A plate of hugely grilled squid, and a plate full of fried stuff and kebab o.O;
The food here had a certain taste to it I can't quite put to. We didn't manage to finish everything as we were too full! Had to skip dinner and save my stomach Lol.
Catedral
If I remembered correctly, the Catedral offers free audio guide? :D
After we exited, we found some seller selling preserved fruits and teas located outside the Catedral (we sighted them while trying to find the Royal Chapel). They were very friendly, and the first thing that caught my eyes were the preserved aloe vera. I wanted something to chew on while walking. :D Walking in Spain gets you easily tired, and eating/sugar keeps you high!
The looming grand exterior:
After buying some fruits, we found their tea selection very interesting. It is alike flower teas, and each have a different names, and indication as to what purpose the tea were for. Like sore throat, asthma/bronchitis, blah blah.
Sis bought 100gram for 2 bags, and they were huge. O.O Of course, tea were light.
Lol a funny incident occurred to me yet again haha.
I wanted this "Malva" so I told the seller, "Malvia, 100 gram!"
Seller: "Malva!"
Me (somehow I keep repeating it since I was excited?) -chants-: "Malvia, malvia, malvia"
Sis: "Malva la...He said it as Malva, how come you keep saying Malvia"
Me -recognition- : "Ohhhh!! Malva!"
Seller: "Yes, Malva!"
Me -got a little high- : "MALVA!"
Seller: "MALVA -laughs-"
xD
Palacio de la Madraza
Lol couldn't find the Chapel after circling Catedral quite a number of times, and getting lost, couldn't find a specific bakery as well. The night was getting darker, and we finally saw this item on our itinerary.
It was very worth it. For a 2 euro, this place comes with a free tour that lasted about 20mins. Tour was very well paced, and very informative. The guide spoke good and clear English and other languages.
And...we finally saw the Chapel (which was close then) which is nearby the Palacio de la Madraza. Lol, use that as a guide!
Mini Shopping and Mini Dinner
Finally we found our Chapel which was directly across Madraza, and it was closed. As such, begins our mini late night shopping. ^^
We were probably in the main touristy areas and a number of shops were pretty expensive. We found a shop that sells Toledo stuff - ie damasquinado necklace, swords, beautifully carved watches. Sis was very tempted xD.
So we were just randomly walking about, and we pop in one of the shop to have some churros and wine for me to gather some heat as well. Lol, they didn't have a menu, so oh well, since were still pretty much full from our gigantic lunch.
I then realised that the skin on my knuckles was hurting, red and bruised, from the cold wind. o.O; I did feel the pain since Alhambra but didn't pay any attention thinking that I accidentally knock into a wall or something. Lol, in cold days, please bring a pair of gloves. :P
After which, was just small shopping again before taking the bus home z.z.
Did I mentioned, that the people in Granada were cute (as remarked by sis). When they hopped on bus, they greet with "Hola" to the bus full of people ^-^
Canceled item on that day: Basilica San Juan de Dios
Lol, kinda regret cancelling it. Trip Advisor ranked it higher than Catedral and Chapel oh sheesh. Didn't do enough homework. It was just slightly further away from the main areas.
2nd try at Night Shot Again!
18/11 - Day 8
This is our last day at Granada :(. Had initially planned to begin earlier, but we decided to do some packing instead. After which, we begin our first itinerary.
Sacromonte Cave Museum
Well, we were actually in the Sacromonte district, so most of the "walls" here have the cave-y look. But we didn't get to see the insides of the caves, so going to the museum to look-see was definitely on our list.
It was a longer climb up from where our flat was. Long long long stoney walk. We finally reached like 20mins later, paid for our entrance and started the visit.
One of the cave exhibit
Trying a "longer" panorama
The museum itself is actually smaller than expected, probably only need about 30mins to finish every thing. It showcased the interesting cave habitats, that definitely felt warmer than our Airbnb flat despite no heater or air conditioning. The fresh air probably comes in from the doorway.
Oh for a more unique staying experience in Granada, try booking a Sacromonte Cave from the Airbnb. We didn't have luck though we ended up in the district haha.
And! Going back down from the museum, lots of mini viewpoint that offers a generous beautiful scenery of Alhambra and the Sacromonte, Albaicin region. That itself probably took about 30mins of our time while we were happily snapping photos here and there.
My favourite shot! Took this while climbing down from the museum. The focus sadly wasn't on Alhambra, but I thought it was one of my best shot (ididn'tdoanythingtoit!)
Carrera del Darro
Finally, we were back at the main street beneath our flat. We decided to walk towards Carrera del Darro since the bus C2 goes towards Albaicin. But the really magical/weird thing is, we somehow, missed the turn to go towards Carrera del Darro and found ourselves winding up in the road towards Albaicin again! That was seriously wonked up. Lol!
Anyways along the way we found another breakfast spot. Hop in for a cup of latte and a sandwich each. Teehee.
Backtrace again, and finally found Carrera del Darro. This is one of the beautiful street in Granada. A small river, beautiful backdrop with Alhambra almighty perching above it, as well as the autumn trees turning reddish-yellow. Definitely photo-worthy in every spot, and a very nice place for people-watching if you had the time.
I am quite fail trying to take a good picture of the river. Ended up with nothing. X_X Shall see if my sis had any good.
This is one of the shot at the surrounding street. ^^ Another of my favourite
We stayed for about 20 mins and walked onto ...
El Banuelo
This is a very well preserved historical Arab Bath site. Lol, oh and I realised that the tourist center is just at the entrance and can offer a lot of good deals and information about visits to other touristy sites in Granada. Some were also free of charge too. Could stop by if you need more information. Anyways it was already our last day...
The Banuelo is an interesting place with a very starry ceiling. You'd realise that every or most Arabic ceilings were all very uniquely with all the geometrical shapes, or starry shapes. The one in Banuelo had those stars shape extracted from and the light comes in. Super nice!
This is probably another short visit lasting less than 30mins. But well, talk about cam-whoring (no one else to photobomb :D), take another 20mins.
Mirador de San Nicolas
Then now, begins the walk in the Albaicin district and towards the view point Mirador de San Nicolas. Read about reviews on Albaicin saying that it was a very magical district. But weird, we didn't see much shops while we were there, and the endless turns and climbs was getting into our heads.
It was about 20mins of walking and we finally reached the view point. It was about 12pm right then, and despite the hot sun we sat there for roughly 30mins. The scenery there was beautiful and totally looked just like a picture on your computer. Lol.
The best part of this place, there was a singer with a few other buddies, strumming guitar, clapping, and singing. Made up the super nice ambience I was getting drown in. I nearly didn't wanna go. Had to get a CD from them, and show a little support for the musicians on street!
Helado de San Nicolas
Sighted an ice cream shop just beneath the Mirador, and we headed over there. Some of the more unique flavours were very flowery - ie. Lavendar ice cream, Rose ice cream. waha!
We had 2 scoops of ice cream each and slowly savored it. Cold day, cold ice cream, super shiok! The ice cream guy also kindly gave us a free postcard each ^-^
So rather funny, now we are on our way to search for lunch while we had our dessert first.
Carmela Restaurant
I found this restaurant based on reviews, and again, I forgot to check my notes to see that there might be a menu del dia. We had our priciest meal in Europe yet, totaled up to 42 euros. Seafood / fish were supposed to be their specialty.
We had a rose wine each, a russian salad to share, and a main course each. I chose the grilled fish - which only came slightly warmer than my palm itself. :P The fish itself was nice though despite the lack of heat it in haha. For the pricing, there are definitely better places elsewhere in Granada.
Royal Chapel
The visit was alike other Catedral in Spain. There more interesting parts were about the tombs that resides there.
Own-Time-Own-Target
Left with quite a bit of time, we tried looking for the Bakery Street, Pan y Dulces, which seems to be hiding from us.
The plaza it was supposed to be at was seemingly frustrating to find and we found ourselves in the wrong direction multiple times. X__X finally we found it and it wasn't opened. Opened only from 5pm...
We dropped by some of the more touristy-looking shops to look for souvenirs. Particularly we ended up in Alcaiceria, as recommended by many online resources. Rather than silk, I think we saw quite a lot more figurines for decorations there. Some of the more beautiful exquisite glasses pieces for smoking pipes, arabic hookah(?), glass piecies that looks like a vial for perfume? Very interesting stuff! I found myself 2 additional crystals bracelet in one of those shops.
Before heading back, supposedly we might be missing our dinner and we went in search for something to take out. Pizzas, breads or what not. In the end, we ended up in yet another bakery shop.
I got the chocolate muffin (awesome!), a cookie, a bread(?) Can't remember.
It was roughly 5pm, and we started to head back to our flat. We were to take a domestic flight towards Barcelona at 9pm. But lol, sis was all-the-more rushy and wanna chiong to airport right then.
Anyways, when we finally reached our apartment, packed up stuff, and began dragging our luggage downwards to the main street. Made a phone call to a recommended driver (it was quite quite pricey), and she came. She, alone, lugged our luggage into the trunk herself. Kudos!!! Must really be the iberico!
Our driver was quite entertaining as well, sharing some of her experience and chatting with us. Teehee, we learned quite a bit of stuff from her, haha, but all for the next trip as we were parting Granada. Finally reached airport and the cost was 55 euros (big expensive!). It was about 6.30pm, and we couldn't check in yet.
The airport was very small, nothing much to shop. :P. Sheesh, I could have more time to shop ;P.
Canceled Items:
Monasterio de la Cartuja:
- Read that this was very worth it if there were time as it was slightly further away from the main areas. ;P Decided to cancel it as we might not have the time.
La Botilleria
- This was one of the restaurants I found from Trip Advisor and I was veryyyyy bent on going there before coming to Spain. But my knees...So decided not to go. It is further down from the main region, in Realjo where there were many graffiti work arts. Should be a nice scene if we had the time and were less painful in the knees. Boohoo, one of my big regrets to have missed it :(
Goodbye Granada, was a super pleasant stay. I find it very magical somehow and couldn't quite explain it. And weirdly, I was reading up on Granada after returning to Singapore and that was very much the sentiment decided for Granada. I will definitely be back in Granada for the next big Spain trip. It shall have 5 of my travel days! For one, we could also find the time to visit Sierra Nevada, the mountainous region which our driver said it would be an awesome photo taking place. ^-^
16/11 - Day 7 - Afternoon
From Seville, we took renfe train towards Granada. The renfe station at Granada worked differently from other stations we had taken.
1. No security check to scan our bags
2. No ticket counter to verify our tickets - we just hopped on.
Oh well, anyways we got onto the train, plugged into our iPads for movies. Then a few stops later, one ticketing officer came by and asked for our tickets, on the train. Which was like...way too late to be checking our tickets? Lol.
Anyways, he continued with his ticket checks, and we continued with our movies.
Then the one thing happened. Announcement began, and was first in Spanish before being in English. Then, everyone was starting to talk during the English announcement and I couldn't hear anything said. :p. When alas I could finally hear the announcement in English, it was too slightly complicated for me to understand. Everyone then had grabbed their bags and both of us had a really big question mark. O.o?
Plucking up my courage to speak up in espanol...(Hopefully someone replies)
Me: "Hola"?
One guy: "Si?"
Me: "El tren, vamos Granada?" - ok, very broken spanish hahaha
Can't remember what was said exactly, but the guy who answered me seems to know I don't speak much Spanish, and phrased his reply in the easiest way to understand. Very much thankful to him. What happened was, there were constructions going on from one of the stations onwards to Granada. So, the arrangement was to drop off at the next stop, take the shuttle bus provided to move on to the next station.
So, that was kinda unpredicted and sis was nearly bent on sitting on train until "Granada" if we hadn't asked. So we got off train, followed the crowd, and found the buses waiting. I wouldn't dare run for a toilet break cause it didn't feel like they will wait for us. Seems like the bus were there just to pick up passengers from this train.
The journey was about 1.5 hours long. Lol, A German sat opposite us in the next rows of sit. Throughout the journey, we had a small conversation going on. :) Was a pleasant journey.
Finally reached Granada, and it was the coldest city we had set foot onto yet. We walked up towards the taxi stand, as it was looking very dark to be wandering by ourselves on the first day. I initially planned to take a bus, and then walked up the long straight road to our Airbnb apartment. But better not.
And I have to say the taxi drivers here in Spain were very very helpful. This is Case 1. Lol. Didn't expect him to help us carry our luggage and put them into the trunk. (anyways my last account with a taxi in Singapore, the driver just waited in his car for us to load luggage ourselves P). And our luggage, were heavy. Lol after I gave a wide-eye-jaw-drop in appreciation of him helping us with the luggage, I said "Fuerte!", meaning "Strong!" xD.
Somehow his fellow colleagues/friends standing around heard me and started to joke in Spanish. They said that he was strong cause he eats a lot of Iberico Jamon! Wahahaha, one way to promote the Iberico products in Spain. Some laughter here and there and we were definitely amused. Teehee~!
From train to Sacromonte area (where our AirBnb apartment was at), it was roughly 7 euros. So, lol, feeling that it ain't that expensive. ^-^ After we got off, and was looking confused at where was the street that our host said to go to, the driver was really nice to get off his taxi, and direct us to the street.
You know the S-shape? He waved that as the direction. Our apartment...oh my, a super long climb. Whats more, the road up there...wonderfully paved by stones that were about palm size big. Lol, My sis and I began dragging our luggage up. Lots of whining and groaning happened and I half-thought we were gonna let go of our luggage accidentally then it will go tumbling down the S-shaped path. Lol. Later I heard from my sis that she hit herself with a cactus during the climb up xD.
After much ordeal, like 30mins (maybe exaggerated) passed, we finally found ourselves in front of the gate as directed by our host. So...in the dark night, I stuck and turned the key left-and-right left-and-right, after what seemed like 10mins, the gate finally spared us and opened. What happened next was all the more funny:
I thought finally we found our home! Just right in front! We rushed there, and stuck the other key in. Some how, it just don't opened! I can't even turn it. All in my mind was going like, oh shit I don't want to go down the stoney S-path with my luggage and find a hotel in the night ;.;.
Then the door opened.
I thought it was the host.
They were another guests. xD!
You know those scary movies, where you were the ones inside the house and then suddenly the door knob started shaking like someone/some-ghost-or-monster was trying to open from the other side, basically we were that "someone" on the other side. xD.
Much apologies happened xD, and they told us, our apartment might be the ones up the stairs.
The stairs. O.O
Omg.. so much more ... climbing. And those stairs were steep, and very skinny. We had to work together to bring up one luggage at a time because it was very steep and the railing nearly didn't exist. ;_;.
Finally, we found ourselves with another door that refused to open up to us. :( So much ordeal that day. Ok, anyways we finally did find ourselves with yet another door that finally opened and looked as advertised. Finally...big relax. Lol.
One of the weak night-shot from my camera from the balcony inside.
We decided to cancel the Zambra show we booked for that night, which was conveniently located right beneath the S-path. We were just too tired, worn-out from the climb. Lol. I called and cancelled, but was lucky to be informed that their show was cancelled too. Sadly, this was the only planned Zambra/flamenco show for Spain, and we missed it :( And too, we decided to cancel dining out. Haha. Ok, lets just find whatever expendable souvenir we had bought...the marzapans! Lol - which was badly crumpled up. :( Anyways if you were planning to bring some goodies back, theres a chance they may serve goodies in a paper bag which seems like the common practice in Spain, bring some hard plastic box. :P.
Funny, we each prepared 2 cup noodles for Spain. all were gone in during Madrid. Lol, Anyways, after we finally settled down (bathed, unpacked essentials) we finally get to take in the apartment itself - which fancied the Moorish-tiles design. We have a small terrace right in front of our beds, where you can opened up the wooden windows, if you welcome the cooling breeze. There was also an upstairs, which is an open-air terrace. You get to hang your laundry up there, and there was a BBQ pit there too. o.O
We started to hunt for the washer, but couldn't get it to work. Very confusing o.O. And there were 2 very cute cats, which keeps following us and wanting to be let inside. They were very scary at the stairs though, darting up and down while I was trying hard to grab the walls so I wouldn't fall.
So, in all excitement for the sun rise moment the next day (this is a perfect flat to see either sun-rise/set as it was rather high up on a hilly area, and with Alhambra as part of the scenery it would be totally amazing right??), I set my alarm for 6 am. Which rang.
And there was no sun rise. All was dark.
I think I got my directions wrong lol, Later in the day I realised there was huge mountain which was blocking it.
17/11 - Day 7
One of the shots from our terrace again! In the morning. The Alhambra sit grandly on the left, while the right-side is the Sacromonte (where we were). It is really super cold that morning too, can you "see" it??
Walking to Alhambra Guided Tour Meet-Up Point
Our official day one here begins with Alhambra (shall refer to it collectively for Generalife, Alhambra, Nasrid Palace), which we had booked a tour. Left with no Milo, both of us were quite hungry and cold, after we dropped off at the wrong bus stop, which leads us into a very different district, the Albaicin). Had to backtrace, and find ourselves in a bar that was opened, and got 2 hot chocolate and mineral water.
Woohoo, then walked on. The klutz in me argues with sis that we should take the longer route, around the Generalife and Alhambra compound when a shorter road appears (a big U-shape path). I didn't wanna risk getting stuck in the dead-end and had to do more back-tracing. Anyways, I think I was wrong later on...
Panicking as we haven't reached our designated meetup point, frantically called the tour and was informed that I was very early - my tour begins at 10.15am. My voucher stated 9.30-10am. x__x
Finally reached the meet-up point, GranaVision, which also has a cafe. Weehee, Ordered a sandwich each and they provided us with 2 different Pate to try. ^-^.
Oh yes, Pâté, should try and get some from Spain. It is something alike canned tuna paste spread that goes with bread. I prefer my bread to be slightly thicker, preferably toasted (like baguette) before spreading the Pâté
Generalife, Alhambra and Nasrid Palace
Finally our tour began. We first visited Generalife. It was huge, gorgeous, and smells veryyyy lovely! The last description, seriously, I have to emphasize it. Many of the garden we visited smells a little fishy where there were fountains - like the water hadn't been changed. But not here, Generalife was beyond looks, and it totally gives you a fresher mind after a few hours of stay. The garden was very well-maintained, we saw the gardeners trimming off the trees. And here, no plants looks dead - all flowers were vibrant with colors, and really superbly beautiful.
I took some photos using my iPad, a weak 2MP camera and I had to say, the photographic scenes itself just make the 2MP camera awesome.
Oh on that day I forgot my portable battery, had to save my phone's battery which seems to run out rather quickly in Spain, as I was the guide (between me and sis) for Granada. I had to use my iPad to take photos instead.
We then visited Alhambra, and the Nasrid Palace. To be honest, I can't remember which part belongs to which, so I am just putting them together.
The ceilings, doorways, pillars, were beautifully decorated with Arabic carving patterns. I seriously wonder how did they get it up on ceiling and such. And there were inscriptions which says something along, "There is no conqueror greater than Allah".
There were a huge lots of stuff to see, and our tour, roughly 4 hours (including Generalife) wasn't enough. The tour itself basically provides itself as an informative tour, and with the tickets, we could still go back to Generalife and Alhambra. Nasrid Palace is slightly more complicated with the entrance, and it is stated by your ticket.
I got a little itchy-hand in one of the rooms, cause I just had to touch and see how did they do the Arabic patterns. Touch touch here and there. Then one of the guards, ever-most discreetly said "Hola" to me.
He: Waves the finger left-right-left-right.
Me: nod-nod
He was the most polite guard I had ever encountered in my entire Spain trip xD. In other places, they will be Hola-ing you loudly, and the entire room of people will be looking at you, and then telling you No-this-No-that.
The next time I come back to Spain, I am definitely revisiting this spot, and I will be planning three-quarter day in it. But I shall be fully prepared with all the readings (I didn't do any :X other than reading that it should be the first itinerary in Spain).
This a must must must must must!
And don't worry about toilet break. There is a building of toilets, as named by our guide haha, located within the main compound just before the places where you need to present your tickets to other parts of the Alhambra..
On our way out, I kept hearing a vague "hello!", "hello!" Didn't react until this kid was right in front of me and "HELLO!"
Kid: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Singapore"
Kid, jaw-drop: "Woah!"
Kid: "My first one!"
Me: ???
xD Not sure what about the first one, probably collecting countries? Hahaha, but damn cute xD
So we head down the long path to the main square, it was like 2pm when we finally headed out of Alhambra, and along the way there were many souvenir shops. Many offering handmade items, and I got myself some of those wooden coasters. The shop owner was very nice, and he was doing some of the handmade items while we looked around. Was very tempted to bring some of the bulkier item back...but thinking about my heavy luggage...
Finally we reached the main square at 3pm after dawdling at the souvenir shops. Teehee, we hadn't had lunch.
Lunch - La Riviera
This one! Go! Super value in Spain. Lol, we were looking at the menu and wanted to order 2 mains, aand some tapas to share. Something about small plates in Singapore keeps getting to us, we always wanna order mains and sides to share. Lol. Halfway through ordering, the lady tell us,
"Stop! Too much!" o.O;
"One drink, one free tapa - choose (gesture to menu)".
Lol! Ok, so we rearrange our orders...
They gave us a starter tapa which we didn't order, and it was delicious (free too!) something alike a potato salad.
Then we were served our drinks, and 2 tapas.
I can't really remember what did we ordered, I ended up with like 2 big platters that looks like main courses: A plate of hugely grilled squid, and a plate full of fried stuff and kebab o.O;
The food here had a certain taste to it I can't quite put to. We didn't manage to finish everything as we were too full! Had to skip dinner and save my stomach Lol.
Catedral
If I remembered correctly, the Catedral offers free audio guide? :D
After we exited, we found some seller selling preserved fruits and teas located outside the Catedral (we sighted them while trying to find the Royal Chapel). They were very friendly, and the first thing that caught my eyes were the preserved aloe vera. I wanted something to chew on while walking. :D Walking in Spain gets you easily tired, and eating/sugar keeps you high!
The looming grand exterior:
After buying some fruits, we found their tea selection very interesting. It is alike flower teas, and each have a different names, and indication as to what purpose the tea were for. Like sore throat, asthma/bronchitis, blah blah.
Sis bought 100gram for 2 bags, and they were huge. O.O Of course, tea were light.
Lol a funny incident occurred to me yet again haha.
I wanted this "Malva" so I told the seller, "Malvia, 100 gram!"
Seller: "Malva!"
Me (somehow I keep repeating it since I was excited?) -chants-: "Malvia, malvia, malvia"
Sis: "Malva la...He said it as Malva, how come you keep saying Malvia"
Me -recognition- : "Ohhhh!! Malva!"
Seller: "Yes, Malva!"
Me -got a little high- : "MALVA!"
Seller: "MALVA -laughs-"
xD
Palacio de la Madraza
Lol couldn't find the Chapel after circling Catedral quite a number of times, and getting lost, couldn't find a specific bakery as well. The night was getting darker, and we finally saw this item on our itinerary.
It was very worth it. For a 2 euro, this place comes with a free tour that lasted about 20mins. Tour was very well paced, and very informative. The guide spoke good and clear English and other languages.
And...we finally saw the Chapel (which was close then) which is nearby the Palacio de la Madraza. Lol, use that as a guide!
Mini Shopping and Mini Dinner
Finally we found our Chapel which was directly across Madraza, and it was closed. As such, begins our mini late night shopping. ^^
We were probably in the main touristy areas and a number of shops were pretty expensive. We found a shop that sells Toledo stuff - ie damasquinado necklace, swords, beautifully carved watches. Sis was very tempted xD.
So we were just randomly walking about, and we pop in one of the shop to have some churros and wine for me to gather some heat as well. Lol, they didn't have a menu, so oh well, since were still pretty much full from our gigantic lunch.
I then realised that the skin on my knuckles was hurting, red and bruised, from the cold wind. o.O; I did feel the pain since Alhambra but didn't pay any attention thinking that I accidentally knock into a wall or something. Lol, in cold days, please bring a pair of gloves. :P
After which, was just small shopping again before taking the bus home z.z.
Did I mentioned, that the people in Granada were cute (as remarked by sis). When they hopped on bus, they greet with "Hola" to the bus full of people ^-^
Canceled item on that day: Basilica San Juan de Dios
Lol, kinda regret cancelling it. Trip Advisor ranked it higher than Catedral and Chapel oh sheesh. Didn't do enough homework. It was just slightly further away from the main areas.
2nd try at Night Shot Again!
18/11 - Day 8
This is our last day at Granada :(. Had initially planned to begin earlier, but we decided to do some packing instead. After which, we begin our first itinerary.
Sacromonte Cave Museum
Well, we were actually in the Sacromonte district, so most of the "walls" here have the cave-y look. But we didn't get to see the insides of the caves, so going to the museum to look-see was definitely on our list.
It was a longer climb up from where our flat was. Long long long stoney walk. We finally reached like 20mins later, paid for our entrance and started the visit.
One of the cave exhibit
Trying a "longer" panorama
The museum itself is actually smaller than expected, probably only need about 30mins to finish every thing. It showcased the interesting cave habitats, that definitely felt warmer than our Airbnb flat despite no heater or air conditioning. The fresh air probably comes in from the doorway.
Oh for a more unique staying experience in Granada, try booking a Sacromonte Cave from the Airbnb. We didn't have luck though we ended up in the district haha.
And! Going back down from the museum, lots of mini viewpoint that offers a generous beautiful scenery of Alhambra and the Sacromonte, Albaicin region. That itself probably took about 30mins of our time while we were happily snapping photos here and there.
My favourite shot! Took this while climbing down from the museum. The focus sadly wasn't on Alhambra, but I thought it was one of my best shot (ididn'tdoanythingtoit!)
Carrera del Darro
Finally, we were back at the main street beneath our flat. We decided to walk towards Carrera del Darro since the bus C2 goes towards Albaicin. But the really magical/weird thing is, we somehow, missed the turn to go towards Carrera del Darro and found ourselves winding up in the road towards Albaicin again! That was seriously wonked up. Lol!
Anyways along the way we found another breakfast spot. Hop in for a cup of latte and a sandwich each. Teehee.
Backtrace again, and finally found Carrera del Darro. This is one of the beautiful street in Granada. A small river, beautiful backdrop with Alhambra almighty perching above it, as well as the autumn trees turning reddish-yellow. Definitely photo-worthy in every spot, and a very nice place for people-watching if you had the time.
I am quite fail trying to take a good picture of the river. Ended up with nothing. X_X Shall see if my sis had any good.
This is one of the shot at the surrounding street. ^^ Another of my favourite
We stayed for about 20 mins and walked onto ...
El Banuelo
This is a very well preserved historical Arab Bath site. Lol, oh and I realised that the tourist center is just at the entrance and can offer a lot of good deals and information about visits to other touristy sites in Granada. Some were also free of charge too. Could stop by if you need more information. Anyways it was already our last day...
The Banuelo is an interesting place with a very starry ceiling. You'd realise that every or most Arabic ceilings were all very uniquely with all the geometrical shapes, or starry shapes. The one in Banuelo had those stars shape extracted from and the light comes in. Super nice!
This is probably another short visit lasting less than 30mins. But well, talk about cam-whoring (no one else to photobomb :D), take another 20mins.
Mirador de San Nicolas
Then now, begins the walk in the Albaicin district and towards the view point Mirador de San Nicolas. Read about reviews on Albaicin saying that it was a very magical district. But weird, we didn't see much shops while we were there, and the endless turns and climbs was getting into our heads.
It was about 20mins of walking and we finally reached the view point. It was about 12pm right then, and despite the hot sun we sat there for roughly 30mins. The scenery there was beautiful and totally looked just like a picture on your computer. Lol.
The best part of this place, there was a singer with a few other buddies, strumming guitar, clapping, and singing. Made up the super nice ambience I was getting drown in. I nearly didn't wanna go. Had to get a CD from them, and show a little support for the musicians on street!
Helado de San Nicolas
Sighted an ice cream shop just beneath the Mirador, and we headed over there. Some of the more unique flavours were very flowery - ie. Lavendar ice cream, Rose ice cream. waha!
We had 2 scoops of ice cream each and slowly savored it. Cold day, cold ice cream, super shiok! The ice cream guy also kindly gave us a free postcard each ^-^
So rather funny, now we are on our way to search for lunch while we had our dessert first.
Carmela Restaurant
I found this restaurant based on reviews, and again, I forgot to check my notes to see that there might be a menu del dia. We had our priciest meal in Europe yet, totaled up to 42 euros. Seafood / fish were supposed to be their specialty.
We had a rose wine each, a russian salad to share, and a main course each. I chose the grilled fish - which only came slightly warmer than my palm itself. :P The fish itself was nice though despite the lack of heat it in haha. For the pricing, there are definitely better places elsewhere in Granada.
Royal Chapel
The visit was alike other Catedral in Spain. There more interesting parts were about the tombs that resides there.
Own-Time-Own-Target
Left with quite a bit of time, we tried looking for the Bakery Street, Pan y Dulces, which seems to be hiding from us.
The plaza it was supposed to be at was seemingly frustrating to find and we found ourselves in the wrong direction multiple times. X__X finally we found it and it wasn't opened. Opened only from 5pm...
We dropped by some of the more touristy-looking shops to look for souvenirs. Particularly we ended up in Alcaiceria, as recommended by many online resources. Rather than silk, I think we saw quite a lot more figurines for decorations there. Some of the more beautiful exquisite glasses pieces for smoking pipes, arabic hookah(?), glass piecies that looks like a vial for perfume? Very interesting stuff! I found myself 2 additional crystals bracelet in one of those shops.
Before heading back, supposedly we might be missing our dinner and we went in search for something to take out. Pizzas, breads or what not. In the end, we ended up in yet another bakery shop.
I got the chocolate muffin (awesome!), a cookie, a bread(?) Can't remember.
It was roughly 5pm, and we started to head back to our flat. We were to take a domestic flight towards Barcelona at 9pm. But lol, sis was all-the-more rushy and wanna chiong to airport right then.
Anyways, when we finally reached our apartment, packed up stuff, and began dragging our luggage downwards to the main street. Made a phone call to a recommended driver (it was quite quite pricey), and she came. She, alone, lugged our luggage into the trunk herself. Kudos!!! Must really be the iberico!
Our driver was quite entertaining as well, sharing some of her experience and chatting with us. Teehee, we learned quite a bit of stuff from her, haha, but all for the next trip as we were parting Granada. Finally reached airport and the cost was 55 euros (big expensive!). It was about 6.30pm, and we couldn't check in yet.
The airport was very small, nothing much to shop. :P. Sheesh, I could have more time to shop ;P.
Canceled Items:
Monasterio de la Cartuja:
- Read that this was very worth it if there were time as it was slightly further away from the main areas. ;P Decided to cancel it as we might not have the time.
La Botilleria
- This was one of the restaurants I found from Trip Advisor and I was veryyyyy bent on going there before coming to Spain. But my knees...So decided not to go. It is further down from the main region, in Realjo where there were many graffiti work arts. Should be a nice scene if we had the time and were less painful in the knees. Boohoo, one of my big regrets to have missed it :(
Goodbye Granada, was a super pleasant stay. I find it very magical somehow and couldn't quite explain it. And weirdly, I was reading up on Granada after returning to Singapore and that was very much the sentiment decided for Granada. I will definitely be back in Granada for the next big Spain trip. It shall have 5 of my travel days! For one, we could also find the time to visit Sierra Nevada, the mountainous region which our driver said it would be an awesome photo taking place. ^-^
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Seville, Spain
14/11 - Day 5 - Evening
After our train to Seville, we finally reached around 4.30pm. And lucky lucky, the hotel was just about 15mins walk from the station, no need to take any metro, gave us much more comfort in pulling our luggage.
We check into Arye Hotel, and that time I ask my sis, what did she planned for our day 1 in Seville, and she said,
"Just eat only"
xD!
Oki, seriously, we was eating and shopping. And that 14/11 was a Saturday.
Seville is one of the place where not many of the people speaks English. Maybe at most very very little of it. Was a nice place to practise teehee~
Plaza del Duque
We took a bus, and headed to the Plaza del Duque where we found loads of shopping, and small pop up market alike our pasar malam. So, we joined the crowd and did some shopping ourselves.
It was a Saturday. There were huge crowds, EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Once we walked into a boutique shop, all people. People everywhere. All over the place. x___x I thought the scariest was Stradivarius which was a rather tiny outlet. There was so much people I wanted to get out real fast. lolol
Anyways, we finally stop shopping and head on to dinner.
Casa Poco
We found Casa Poco after what seemed like 30mins walk from where we were.
Our dinner was gooood! We had pig trotter, omelette, and salad, and some wine each.
La Alameda
From our dinner, we went onto La Alameda, a small square in Seville, which was our dining place was just nearby. There were 2 tall roman statues, Hercules and Julius Caesar. We stood there and try to take the photo. Lol it was kinda funny because I kept saying my sis photograph doesn't seem straight.
So I took over, took aim and I thought it look perfect. Then we compared our photos.
Both, doesn't look quite straight rofl. There some kinda illusion thingie due to the bottom of the one of the statue that keeps making me feel the photo wasn't straight, haha don't let it get to you ;P
From then La Alameda, we were just randomly hopping into shops and so on. We saw a few flamenco theater but we didn't go, since we did planned a Zambra show in Granada.
15/11 - Day 6 - Seville morning!
Today was gonna be a rather long day, quite a lot of attractions to take away our time. Do note that that day was a Sunday, and on a Sunday, many shops were closed. Including the El Cortes Ingles. :/
Along the way to Alcazar, we sighted this...university??? Can it look even more awesome?!
More nice spots along the way...
Seville's Alcazar
On our way to the Alcazar was a rather busy street, full of tourist. We also noticed that a race was going on, where the participants wore a number and were running about while referring to a piece of paper. Sounds like a treasure hunt?
On the long road, there was a a touristy tram moving about, and many horse carriages and people beckoning you to come take a ride (not for free of course).
Finally Alcazar!
My sis mentioned that it was used to film some scenes in Game of Throne. Not sure which ones since I didn't watch.
Which was rather big, and full of gardens. We had the audio guide and I was navigating us both through the palace and garden, while sis focus on taking photos.
Once we heard something that sounded like a cat wailing or something. The culprit was a peacock. xD. They roamed freely in the palace though, just quite surprising haha.
Most of the tourist were hanging by the big fountain in the alcazar, and that was one of the picturesque place in the Alcazar. Another unique place to check out would be the Arab bath area, which was located quite near the fountain. There were some ladies who would repeatedly keep coming back to take picture...sheesh haha, my sis couldn't even take time to shoot the place nicely ;P
And some of the really nice geometrical design we saw:
:D Theres so much more but I guess, this heavy picture loading ... shall leave it for the next round.
Anyways, one last one! We exited the Alcazar at an really nice noon, and the crowd was starting to gather.
Musicians everywhere too! Love the ambiance they created
Lunch - Bodequita Romero
This is definitely one of my favourite place to eat! The chef-looking-guy who served us was very nice, friendly, and cheerful!
The recommended Pringa, was really really delicious! Ask for a few more of those dishes!
(Ok I forgot to take a picture of that Pringa. But here is one for Chorizo!)
Italica
Then, we took a bus and head to Italica...that was the most disappointing part of our trip to Seville. We reached there roughly 3.05pm, and the ticket counter was closed. The security guard would not let us in, indicating that the placed closed at 3.30pm, ticketing counter close 30 mins at 3.00pm.
And do take note that, I think the TripAdvisor or where-else mentioned it was until 5pm :P don't get the wrong information guys. :P,
3.30pm, Sunday, on Autumn-Winter period - Closed. Can't rmb other timing, but I think sis took a picture of it.
x____x :( The Roman Ruins, there goes my visit :(
We had to sit around and wait for the next bus which starts at the next hour.
Catedral
Since there were sufficient time left before the night, we headed by to the main plaza, and went for the visit to Catedral.
Gothic facade and again, another amazing ceiling to gaze at!
One of my nightmare began when...
I saw this Tower Tour and there was a slightly barricaded route to a loomy door way. Lol, feeling really excited, although in my mind was saying "don't do it...cause your kneecap doesnt feel good".
I went on and climb. It was rather easy as there were no stairs. It was elevated using ramps. The tower itself you can think of it as rather long cube so there were 4 walls, and 4 ramps to walk before you get to the next level?
Every wall you see, there is a number, which is some sort of indication of the level. So I believe I saw the number 36, which would leave the building at least 9 stories high. While climbing halfway, I quickly called my sis and told her to start climbing the tower!
Yes beautiful (Actually on second thoughts, I find it ok. The most interesting views I find were while you were climbing and some of those walls there were small windows. Do take the chance to peek out ^^) view from the top, and 4 different sides gives you 4 different view from the top of Seville. But lol, the human crowd there was huge, I had to keep waiting at a spot for people to climb down and lemme take a look from one point. At one point, the bells suddenly rang and many were startled. xD
Then, the scary part began for me. My kneecap was hurting badly remember? I even bought a kneeguard. My ailment is such that, I have no problem climbing up, I only have problem moving downwards. My kneecap feels the pain when it has to be lowered downwards, doesn't matter if there were stairs or just a ramp, its feels the pain.
Halfway down the tower, my kneecaps were burning and a very tight sensation on it. It does not feel right and I got really worried and started thinking what if I lost my legs to the tower ;__; that was such a depressing thought. I met my sis halfway down as I decided to wait for her and take a rest.
And looks like I wasn't the only one facing the same pain - saw another lady taking really tiny steps and holding on to the stair ledge for her life.
Then ushered my sis to continue her journey, and I rested a while longer. Finally continued down the last 10 numbers down the tower...
Upon our exit from the Catedral, I spotted a nice location to be photographed while sis was looking for toilet. She says she gonna look for it, and I continue to take my photo. Didn't realise that she had not exited the Catedral and I made an exit passed the gates and the security guard. Lol.
Then I got a phone call from her.
Thinking about what to do, I went up to the guard and tried to ask if I could go in. After I had time to think about what I did that time, I probably looked worried, and with my broken spanish, lol~ the guard probably think I might had lost a little sister in the bathroom. xD
One last image while at Catedral!
La Abuela, "The Grandmother"
We had ice cream here! On a cold cold day, the ice cream is super welcome lol not sure how that was logical, but the ice cream was super yummy. The shop was super crowded and had like 15 people trying to make their order while there was only one lady serving the ice cream. My sis then said, "Only this shop was opened."
And of course, maybe thats it haha, cos it was a Sunday, and no other shops was opened. But anyways, the ice cream here was awesome! We got one a turron flavor and that one was gooooood!
Dinner - La Sacristia
We went into this bar that was just right beside Alvaro Peregil, our planned itinerary. Alvaro Peregil only offers standing table and only seats on the outside. As there were so much smoke outside and we were feeling super tired on our feet, we pop into La Sacristia instead.
In here, we had mainly tapas. The guy who served us was nice and fun :)
I finally got to try Gazpacho, the local special tomato based cold soup. Lol, it came in a wine glass haha. So I had to take sips from it lol~ I then later realize that they don't serve Gazpacho in the colder seasons, it was supposedly a warmer season dish.
My sis ordered a jar of Sangria. And she had it all. Lol! This time we also ordered some grilled mushrooms. Before here, usually when we saw a platter of mushroom they were always about 8-15 euros. Kinda pricey. This time, we ordered! Can't remember the price. Those mushroom were heavenly - very flavourful and juicy! Totally totally loved it!
We saw the couple beside us ordered 2 sets of the 7 tapas special. It came nicely displayed but a set itself was huge. Lol o.o;
Seriously, try not to over-order.
Head home~!
16/11 - Day 7 - Seville morning tour
The days were flying, and that day, we made our way to Triana, a neighbourhood in Seville that was slightly further away from our Hotel.
We walked along a nice bridge, on the warm/cool morning, then hit our first and last planned stop:
Mercado de Triana
This a a local market for grocery, and maybe some local produce that you might wanna bring home. We found some sweets, bought some chorizon to share and eat for our breakfast.
We also stopped by this coffee area, and got our orders. We wanted mocha, but there was some kind of misunderstanding and we got Americano haha. But nevermind, the guy was quite funny.
But we are no fans for black coffee, haha, so I use google translate a short phrase into spanish, and ask him if he could give us some milk for coffee haha. xD.
He swept up his hot milk jar, zoom by our table, and poured some for us. And finally ending with "Tu espanol es muy bien~!" @ me Wahaha xD
Shopping
Then we headed for some shopping in the neighbourhood. Found a small Lefties outlet, and tons of shoes shop!
If you want some nice leather shoes from Spain, I recommended to get them here. It is much cheaper than other cities and places we had been to. And the price of the shoes for leather, they were totally worth it! And note that the shoes made in Spain were generally quite large, you might go 1-2 size smaller if you were getting a gift.
For ladies, I recommend the shoe shop: MaryPaz! Totally love their leather boots, and they were priced just right and they looked chic. But anyways I shopped mine at Toledo. Was super tempted, but phew, cut that temptation cause my luggage was already heavy enough.
My sis got a pair boots from MaryPaz and I am eyeing her boots o.o with envy.
Lunch - Taberna Miami!
Afterwards, we headed for lunch, again, I can't remember the bar/resto name. And seriously this was one of my most favourite place in the entire trip.
The guy who served us was seriously reallllly nice! We asked him for his recommendation for some tapas, and he told us to try the Secreto Iberico. That was a good find! On a cold weather, the nicely grilled iberico was awesome to taste and we had to have another serving. Oh just ditch the pork fillet if you were tempted to order it, have the Secreto!
Secreto Iberico literary translate to "iberian secret".
Just after we paid our bill, the guy served us 2 small shots of wine on the house. Awwwwwww xD And it was really flavorful sweet wine and also kept me warm on the cold day. I have to say, dump the Sangria! We need real wine like this!
Very very much thankful for our experience to our special guy from the bar/resto. Just lemme find the photo, and I will update the resto name.
After that, we had to go onto our 4th city, Granada.
Seville in summary
I find that I like the people here much much more, and much of the really pleasant experience came from the crews at the restaurant and food they served. They seem very passionate with their food and drinks they served. If you would ask for a lot more detail, they would gladly share the information with you despite the language barrier.
Shopping here is definitely much cheaper too teehee~
After our train to Seville, we finally reached around 4.30pm. And lucky lucky, the hotel was just about 15mins walk from the station, no need to take any metro, gave us much more comfort in pulling our luggage.
We check into Arye Hotel, and that time I ask my sis, what did she planned for our day 1 in Seville, and she said,
"Just eat only"
xD!
Oki, seriously, we was eating and shopping. And that 14/11 was a Saturday.
Seville is one of the place where not many of the people speaks English. Maybe at most very very little of it. Was a nice place to practise teehee~
Plaza del Duque
We took a bus, and headed to the Plaza del Duque where we found loads of shopping, and small pop up market alike our pasar malam. So, we joined the crowd and did some shopping ourselves.
It was a Saturday. There were huge crowds, EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Once we walked into a boutique shop, all people. People everywhere. All over the place. x___x I thought the scariest was Stradivarius which was a rather tiny outlet. There was so much people I wanted to get out real fast. lolol
Anyways, we finally stop shopping and head on to dinner.
Casa Poco
We found Casa Poco after what seemed like 30mins walk from where we were.
Our dinner was gooood! We had pig trotter, omelette, and salad, and some wine each.
La Alameda
From our dinner, we went onto La Alameda, a small square in Seville, which was our dining place was just nearby. There were 2 tall roman statues, Hercules and Julius Caesar. We stood there and try to take the photo. Lol it was kinda funny because I kept saying my sis photograph doesn't seem straight.
So I took over, took aim and I thought it look perfect. Then we compared our photos.
Both, doesn't look quite straight rofl. There some kinda illusion thingie due to the bottom of the one of the statue that keeps making me feel the photo wasn't straight, haha don't let it get to you ;P
From then La Alameda, we were just randomly hopping into shops and so on. We saw a few flamenco theater but we didn't go, since we did planned a Zambra show in Granada.
15/11 - Day 6 - Seville morning!
Today was gonna be a rather long day, quite a lot of attractions to take away our time. Do note that that day was a Sunday, and on a Sunday, many shops were closed. Including the El Cortes Ingles. :/
Along the way to Alcazar, we sighted this...university??? Can it look even more awesome?!
Sorry about the tree there, no matter which angle, it is just there stubbornly.
More nice spots along the way...
Seville's Alcazar
On our way to the Alcazar was a rather busy street, full of tourist. We also noticed that a race was going on, where the participants wore a number and were running about while referring to a piece of paper. Sounds like a treasure hunt?
On the long road, there was a a touristy tram moving about, and many horse carriages and people beckoning you to come take a ride (not for free of course).
Finally Alcazar!
My sis mentioned that it was used to film some scenes in Game of Throne. Not sure which ones since I didn't watch.
Which was rather big, and full of gardens. We had the audio guide and I was navigating us both through the palace and garden, while sis focus on taking photos.
Once we heard something that sounded like a cat wailing or something. The culprit was a peacock. xD. They roamed freely in the palace though, just quite surprising haha.
Most of the tourist were hanging by the big fountain in the alcazar, and that was one of the picturesque place in the Alcazar. Another unique place to check out would be the Arab bath area, which was located quite near the fountain. There were some ladies who would repeatedly keep coming back to take picture...sheesh haha, my sis couldn't even take time to shoot the place nicely ;P
And some of the really nice geometrical design we saw:
- The leftmost was on the ceiling, and it was incredibly hard to take the full shape - you really need DSLR with an ultra-zoom-out lens. The ceilings in Spain are really super super amazing!
- The middle onee is a really nice door.
- The last one on the right is yet another one on their ceiling. Intricate design!
:D Theres so much more but I guess, this heavy picture loading ... shall leave it for the next round.
Anyways, one last one! We exited the Alcazar at an really nice noon, and the crowd was starting to gather.
Musicians everywhere too! Love the ambiance they created
Lunch - Bodequita Romero
This is definitely one of my favourite place to eat! The chef-looking-guy who served us was very nice, friendly, and cheerful!
The recommended Pringa, was really really delicious! Ask for a few more of those dishes!
(Ok I forgot to take a picture of that Pringa. But here is one for Chorizo!)
Italica
Then, we took a bus and head to Italica...that was the most disappointing part of our trip to Seville. We reached there roughly 3.05pm, and the ticket counter was closed. The security guard would not let us in, indicating that the placed closed at 3.30pm, ticketing counter close 30 mins at 3.00pm.
And do take note that, I think the TripAdvisor or where-else mentioned it was until 5pm :P don't get the wrong information guys. :P,
3.30pm, Sunday, on Autumn-Winter period - Closed. Can't rmb other timing, but I think sis took a picture of it.
x____x :( The Roman Ruins, there goes my visit :(
We had to sit around and wait for the next bus which starts at the next hour.
Catedral
Since there were sufficient time left before the night, we headed by to the main plaza, and went for the visit to Catedral.
Gothic facade and again, another amazing ceiling to gaze at!
One of my nightmare began when...
I saw this Tower Tour and there was a slightly barricaded route to a loomy door way. Lol, feeling really excited, although in my mind was saying "don't do it...cause your kneecap doesnt feel good".
I went on and climb. It was rather easy as there were no stairs. It was elevated using ramps. The tower itself you can think of it as rather long cube so there were 4 walls, and 4 ramps to walk before you get to the next level?
Every wall you see, there is a number, which is some sort of indication of the level. So I believe I saw the number 36, which would leave the building at least 9 stories high. While climbing halfway, I quickly called my sis and told her to start climbing the tower!
Yes beautiful (Actually on second thoughts, I find it ok. The most interesting views I find were while you were climbing and some of those walls there were small windows. Do take the chance to peek out ^^) view from the top, and 4 different sides gives you 4 different view from the top of Seville. But lol, the human crowd there was huge, I had to keep waiting at a spot for people to climb down and lemme take a look from one point. At one point, the bells suddenly rang and many were startled. xD
Then, the scary part began for me. My kneecap was hurting badly remember? I even bought a kneeguard. My ailment is such that, I have no problem climbing up, I only have problem moving downwards. My kneecap feels the pain when it has to be lowered downwards, doesn't matter if there were stairs or just a ramp, its feels the pain.
Halfway down the tower, my kneecaps were burning and a very tight sensation on it. It does not feel right and I got really worried and started thinking what if I lost my legs to the tower ;__; that was such a depressing thought. I met my sis halfway down as I decided to wait for her and take a rest.
And looks like I wasn't the only one facing the same pain - saw another lady taking really tiny steps and holding on to the stair ledge for her life.
Then ushered my sis to continue her journey, and I rested a while longer. Finally continued down the last 10 numbers down the tower...
Upon our exit from the Catedral, I spotted a nice location to be photographed while sis was looking for toilet. She says she gonna look for it, and I continue to take my photo. Didn't realise that she had not exited the Catedral and I made an exit passed the gates and the security guard. Lol.
Then I got a phone call from her.
Thinking about what to do, I went up to the guard and tried to ask if I could go in. After I had time to think about what I did that time, I probably looked worried, and with my broken spanish, lol~ the guard probably think I might had lost a little sister in the bathroom. xD
One last image while at Catedral!
La Abuela, "The Grandmother"
We had ice cream here! On a cold cold day, the ice cream is super welcome lol not sure how that was logical, but the ice cream was super yummy. The shop was super crowded and had like 15 people trying to make their order while there was only one lady serving the ice cream. My sis then said, "Only this shop was opened."
And of course, maybe thats it haha, cos it was a Sunday, and no other shops was opened. But anyways, the ice cream here was awesome! We got one a turron flavor and that one was gooooood!
Dinner - La Sacristia
We went into this bar that was just right beside Alvaro Peregil, our planned itinerary. Alvaro Peregil only offers standing table and only seats on the outside. As there were so much smoke outside and we were feeling super tired on our feet, we pop into La Sacristia instead.
In here, we had mainly tapas. The guy who served us was nice and fun :)
I finally got to try Gazpacho, the local special tomato based cold soup. Lol, it came in a wine glass haha. So I had to take sips from it lol~ I then later realize that they don't serve Gazpacho in the colder seasons, it was supposedly a warmer season dish.
My sis ordered a jar of Sangria. And she had it all. Lol! This time we also ordered some grilled mushrooms. Before here, usually when we saw a platter of mushroom they were always about 8-15 euros. Kinda pricey. This time, we ordered! Can't remember the price. Those mushroom were heavenly - very flavourful and juicy! Totally totally loved it!
We saw the couple beside us ordered 2 sets of the 7 tapas special. It came nicely displayed but a set itself was huge. Lol o.o;
Seriously, try not to over-order.
Head home~!
16/11 - Day 7 - Seville morning tour
The days were flying, and that day, we made our way to Triana, a neighbourhood in Seville that was slightly further away from our Hotel.
We walked along a nice bridge, on the warm/cool morning, then hit our first and last planned stop:
Mercado de Triana
This a a local market for grocery, and maybe some local produce that you might wanna bring home. We found some sweets, bought some chorizon to share and eat for our breakfast.
We also stopped by this coffee area, and got our orders. We wanted mocha, but there was some kind of misunderstanding and we got Americano haha. But nevermind, the guy was quite funny.
But we are no fans for black coffee, haha, so I use google translate a short phrase into spanish, and ask him if he could give us some milk for coffee haha. xD.
He swept up his hot milk jar, zoom by our table, and poured some for us. And finally ending with "Tu espanol es muy bien~!" @ me Wahaha xD
Shopping
Then we headed for some shopping in the neighbourhood. Found a small Lefties outlet, and tons of shoes shop!
If you want some nice leather shoes from Spain, I recommended to get them here. It is much cheaper than other cities and places we had been to. And the price of the shoes for leather, they were totally worth it! And note that the shoes made in Spain were generally quite large, you might go 1-2 size smaller if you were getting a gift.
For ladies, I recommend the shoe shop: MaryPaz! Totally love their leather boots, and they were priced just right and they looked chic. But anyways I shopped mine at Toledo. Was super tempted, but phew, cut that temptation cause my luggage was already heavy enough.
My sis got a pair boots from MaryPaz and I am eyeing her boots o.o with envy.
Lunch - Taberna Miami!
Afterwards, we headed for lunch, again, I can't remember the bar/resto name. And seriously this was one of my most favourite place in the entire trip.
The guy who served us was seriously reallllly nice! We asked him for his recommendation for some tapas, and he told us to try the Secreto Iberico. That was a good find! On a cold weather, the nicely grilled iberico was awesome to taste and we had to have another serving. Oh just ditch the pork fillet if you were tempted to order it, have the Secreto!
Secreto Iberico literary translate to "iberian secret".
Just after we paid our bill, the guy served us 2 small shots of wine on the house. Awwwwwww xD And it was really flavorful sweet wine and also kept me warm on the cold day. I have to say, dump the Sangria! We need real wine like this!
Very very much thankful for our experience to our special guy from the bar/resto. Just lemme find the photo, and I will update the resto name.
After that, we had to go onto our 4th city, Granada.
Seville in summary
I find that I like the people here much much more, and much of the really pleasant experience came from the crews at the restaurant and food they served. They seem very passionate with their food and drinks they served. If you would ask for a lot more detail, they would gladly share the information with you despite the language barrier.
Shopping here is definitely much cheaper too teehee~
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